A place for a tired old woman to try to figure things out so that the world makes a bit of sense.

Saturday, September 24, 2005

WTF?

At first I was just amused by the report that the FBI has established a new priority for investigation and prosecution: pornography. It does, after all, sort of fit the m.o. of this administration. In the face of huge and complex problems, BushCo inevitably goes off half-cocked in another direction to deal with something that really is so minor as to have been invisible. I'm no fan of porn, most feminists my age aren't, but I at least have gotten to the point that whatever adults choose to occupy their time with is really no business of mine, or the government's.

After a few minutes of chuckling, however, I got a little annoyed. I sure don't want this administration making First Amendment decisions in any area, even pornography. Furthermore, since the Resident continues to reference 9/11 at every opportunity (a mantra no doubt calculated to staunch the bleeding of every opinion poll known to humankind), why pull agents of the FBI off investigating terrorism in this nation in favor of investigating purveyors of smut? What kind of security action is that?

As an issue of national priorities, this is both amusing and worrying: The FBI, reports the Washington Post, is setting up a special squad to investigate "manufacturers and purveyors" of porn -- not the kind that exploits children, but the kind that portrays adults, is targeted at adults and is legal unless interpretations of "community standards,"prurient interest" and other vague tests deem it otherwise.

The effort is, said the FBI, "one of the top priorities" of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. As one "exasperated FBI agent" told the Post, "I guess this means we've won the war on terror. We must not need any more resources for espionage."

Well said, but there is an explanation, making the rounds in Washington, that makes sense: that this may be an effort by Gonzales to make himself more acceptable to the religious right and therefore a more likely Supreme Court nominee.

It's not going down well with the FBI professionals, who think terrorism, organized crime, narcotics, child pornography and public corruption are a tad more important. [Emphasis added]

If this new 'priority' is indeed all about getting Gonzales a Supreme Court nomination, and given this maladministration's track record, I have no reason to doubt this, then even our top domestic investigative agency has been subverted. I think we can add this to Gonzales's resume of wrong-headed ideas, and we can list it right below his opinions on the treatment of "illegal combatants" in Gitmo and prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

Clearly he is not Supreme Court material. In fact, I doubt that he is qualified to hold any governmental position at all.